


Grapevine

by imdisappointingmyparents, mageofpie



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Ableist Language, Bullying, Homophobic Language, Name-Calling, Rumors, Sexist Language, Slut Shaming, and not in the endearing way, but these guys are Bad people, ill try to make that stuff as not-as-bad as possible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 18:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12138570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imdisappointingmyparents/pseuds/imdisappointingmyparents, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mageofpie/pseuds/mageofpie
Summary: The Washington's had always been a sort of mystery. The only people who could get close to them were those who didn't try, like it was some exclusive club you could only get into if you're worthy enough.Not that they were bitter or anything.The school life of the Washington's and their friends as told through the eyes of three bitter, rumour milling classmates.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okay, this is gonna be a 3 part story  
> this first part is set in grade school but a fair warning, the rumours are gonna get a bit more Horrible as these 3 get older and more bitter n shit
> 
> i just love the idea of the ud kids seeming like this untouchable group of friends who everyone wants to be a part of but no one who tries can be friends with them so no one knows what they get up to so people just make shit up
> 
> and i just thought this would be a cool idea :V
> 
> so i apologise cause i really cant write little kids well so this might not seem accurate but i tried my best alright?? thats all i can do damn it
> 
> also i didnt proofread or spellcheck this soooooo lmao sorry

Jason pat his hands on the misshapen mound of sand in front of him, thin eyebrows furrowed in concentration. It was his first week of kindergarten and he’d already made himself at home in the sandpit. He’d already spent a majority of his time during recess constructing a castle, but Luke kept hogging the castle molds so he had to improvise.

He was digging around in the sand next to him, looking for that tiny shovel he’d had just a moment ago. Jason frowned as he saw Luke, sitting just across from him, shovelling more sand into his mould. That thief.

Jason balled his tiny fists, already angry at the injustice of the world, and was about to start yelling for the teacher when the rhythmic squeak of a wheel approached him. Stephanie, one of his new friends, pulled up alongside the sandpit on her red tricycle. It was the only good one in the yard, excusing the squeaky wheel, and she somehow always managed to get it despite the scramble to get all the best bikes at the start of break.

“Hello!” Stephanie said enthusiastically. Jason temporarily forgot his anger towards Luke and greeted her back, his parents lessons in politeness kicking him into autopilot.

“Hi.”

“What are you doing?” She got off her bike, now standing next to him on the sand and looking down at his creation. Jason looked towards Luke and pointed at him.

“I’m trying to build a sandcastle but Luke keeps stealing all the stuff!”

Luke looked up, as if only now realising there was someone else in the sandpit with him. He frowned back, looking offended.

“No I don’t! I don’t see your name on it!”

“But we’re supposed to share,” Stephanie said, looking between the two of them.

“Well…” Luke stuttered, “Well, I saw it first, so I get to use it.”

Jason slapped his hands onto his sand hill, leaving two small hand prints in it, “That’s not fair! I--!”

“Wait!” Steph held up her hand, eyes fixed on a point on the other side of the playground, “Look.”

Both boys stopped fighting and craned their necks to look where Steph was pointing. On the other side of the yard, beneath the shade of a large oak tree, a scrawny boy sat alone. He looked like he was just watching everyone else play while pulling grass out and piling it on his lap. Even though they were so far away from him, all three of the kids knew who he was.

“That’s Josh,” Luke stated, nodding once as if to confirm it.

So far, the quiet boy had kept mostly to himself during recess and playtime. None of the children knew much about him aside from the fact that he was called Joshua Washington, his favourite colour was blue, and his favourite animal was a bear. They only knew that because it was what he’d said on the first day when they all introduced themselves. Jason’s favourite colour was pink, but his dad said that was a girl colour so he’d changed it to red when it was his turn.

“Why’s he sitting by himself?” Jason asked, still staring blatantly at Josh. He hadn’t noticed them staring yet, not that they would look away if he did.

“I don’t know. He’s kinda weird.” Steph said, jutting out her bottom lip.

“You know what I heard?” Luke asked, turning back towards the other two, all previous notions of theft and rivalry gone, “I heard his dad’s one of those uh, movie director people and he’s super rich.”

“What? No way,” Stephanie looked amazed, eyes sparkling, “Where did you hear that?”

“My dad told me,” Luke said with some sort of pride, “He said that Josh’s dad made movies, but I couldn’t watch any of them ‘cause they’re all grown-up movies.”

“Cool...” Jason trailed off, still staring at Josh.

A shrill whistle sounded from the door to the classroom, startling all three of the kids. Their teacher started beckoning everyone back inside so they could get back to colouring and Jason mourned the loss of his sandcastle once again. Next time he’d get to the sandbox faster than Luke and get all the stuff he’d stolen from him.

Stephanie wheeled her tricycle back to behind a tree she’d been using to hide it.

On the other side of the playground, Joshua Washington begrudgingly got up and began walking towards the classroom, unaware of the small stir he’d caused among a group of new friends.

* * *

Jason stabbed at his Capri-Sun, letting out a frustrated groan when the thin straw poked out the other side of the packet.

“Aw, crud,” he whined. Now it was  _ useless _ . He pulled the straw out fully and covered the whole top of the packet with his mouth as best he could, throwing his head back. Apparently, he hadn’t covered the holes well enough and some of the drink shot right up his nose and dribbled onto his shirt. He started coughing and threw the Capri-Sun on the table.

“ _ Crud _ !”

Beside him, Stephanie started snorting with laughter.

“Aw, jeez, Jason, what were you even trying to do?” She took a large bite out of her sandwich despite still laughing and Jason frowned, wiping his nose and chin on his arm.

“I don’t know, I thought it would work.”

“Dummy,” Luke added from across the table, also laughing.

The trio had remained friends after their rocky start, having found that everyone else in their class had already grouped off into other friend groups. There wasn’t anybody else left to hang out with.

Of course, there was still one person who mostly kept to himself.

Jason flicked his eyes over to the boy sitting at the far end of the cafeteria and felt a stab of frustration. Joshua Washington was apparently a hard nut to crack. After that day in kindergarten, Jason had approached the other kid and tried to sit with him, tried to start a conversation, but Josh had been quiet. He’d seemed almost angry that Jason was trying to talk to him, all clipped tone and short answers.

Even being in the seat directly next to his hadn’t given Jason the advantage.

Jason had been upset, having been rejected by probably the coolest guy in class. No wonder he had no other friends, this Josh guy.

Well, that was until this year.

Jason’s eyes landed on the two, much younger girls sitting next to Josh at his table, the three of them laughing and sharing their lunches. His baby sisters. Hannah and Beth Washington.

They had just started kindergarten as Jason’s class had moved up to second grade that year and everyone was surprised by how quickly Josh had turned from the quiet, brooding kid at the back to class to the grinning, bubbly kid he was now. All it took was having his sisters to hang out with at recess and lunch.

Jason remembered the stir they’d caused when they started school here. Apparently they refused to be separated for any reason and would end up crying their eyes out if anyone tried. They were identical twins, after all. They’d never been apart before and they weren’t about to start now.

“Don’t you think it’s kinda weird?” Stephanie interrupted his train of thought and Jason turned his head to look at her. She was staring at the Washington siblings too.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” She turned back and furrowed her eyebrows, like she was trying to find the right words, “like, they only ever talk to each other? They don’t talk to anybody else but each other.”

“I guess,” Luke said, shrugging as he dug his hands into his bag of chips on the table.

“But, like, why does Josh like his little sisters so much?” She said it with a hint of disgust, “I mean, I don’t like  _ my _ little sister at  _ all _ .”

“Yeah, me neither,” Luke added, scrunching his nose like the thought of hanging out with his own little sister was the worst thing he could possibly think to do. Jason was an only child, but he could imagine how annoying it was to have a bunch of babies around the house always crying and wanting to play dolls or whatever. He pulled his face too, just to feel involved.

“Yeah, gross.”

“They’re kinda creepy, aren’t they?” Luke laughed, staring over Jason and Stephanie’s shoulders to look at the twins who were happily trading Lunchables with each other.

“ _ I _ heard that they had their own movie theatre at their house,” Steph suddenly whispered, leaning in like it was a secret. Jason and Luke both let out a small gasp of astonishment. No one had ever actually been to the Washington’s house but they could imagine it. A  _ huge _ mansion with gargoyles guarding the giant doors with one of those lion head knockers on it, or a doorbell that made the ground shake with how loud it was.

“I heard that they have like, a pet tiger, or something,” Luke said, sounding unsure but saying it anyway. Jason laughed at that and Steph did too.

“What? Don’t be stupid, Luke, they’d all get eaten if they had one of those,” Steph rolled her eyes and Luke sat up straighter, looking more sure of himself now.

“It’s  _ true _ ! Daniel said his dad was driving past their house one day and he saw it through the backyard fence!”

Stephanie narrowed her eyes and huffed, not knowing whether or not to believe him. He couldn’t prove it… but she couldn't  _ disprove _ it either. A conundrum, indeed.

“Whatever. Either way, they're totally millionaires.” Steph nodded with a note of finality and took another bite of her sandwich as if to call an end to the conversation.

Jason glanced over his shoulder once more at the table of siblings, seeing that Josh was gesturing wildly with his hands and Hannah and Beth were laughing. Josh pulled a stupid face and the girls laughed harder, their legs kicking frantically under the table. Jason furrowed his eyebrows. What made them so special? Why was he so drawn to them? Well, they were special for sure, and the fact that no one else in class had managed to befriend any of the Washington's made the idea of friendship with them all the more enticing.

Well, whatever.

Jason turned back to his lunch having forgotten briefly about his ruined Capri-Sun and set to work on his foil-wrapped ham sandwich.

All this talking had made him hungry.

* * *

It was almost comical how quickly the Washington’s group expended after Hannah and Beth started attending school there.

Only a few months into the school year and the dirty blonde head of one Samantha Giddings had taken its place at the Washington cafeteria table.

Jason almost couldn’t believe it. He’d spent two years of his adolescent life trying and failing and trying and failing to even have a conversation with them and that weirdo just waltzes up and plants herself down at their table like there was never any question she belonged there. Freak.

“Is that  _ Sam _ ?” Luke scoffed as he threw himself down across from Jason at their table, his tray of mac ‘n’ cheese sliding about. Steph took her own seat next to him, pulling her face at the sight.

“Ewww, why are they letting  _ her _ sit with them?”

“She’s like, best friends with Hannah now or something,” Jason said, shrugging his shoulders angrily. He’d heard it from some girl at recess, that Hannah had been picked on by some boys in her class while Beth had left her side for a moment and Sam had swooped in and saved her.

“Ugh, Hannah’s such a crybaby freak, no wonder she’s friends with a weirdo like Sam,” Luke had already shoved a mouthful of pasta into his mouth, speaking thickly around the cheese and accidentally spitting some onto the table, “I heard she eats  _ grass _ .”

Steph giggled and scrunched her nose in disgust, “Gross! Like a cow!” Jason snickered at that and pulled his fingers up to the side of his head, making bull horns at his temples. He mooed loudly and to his delight, both Luke and Steph started laughing. Jason could imagine Sam, sitting on the small grassy part of the playground, shoving fistfuls of grass into her mouth and he started laughing too. He imagined Hannah making her one of those stupid daisy chains that all the girls were making, and Sam just shoving the whole thing into her mouth.

Admittedly, Jason didn’t know much about Sam. None of them did. He’d seen her in the playground, climbing trees, playing catch, grinning from ear to ear out in the sunshine with one of her front teeth missing.

Jason heard that she saved a spider from her classroom once, cupping it gently in her hands and carrying it outside amidst the screaming and shouting of her classmates. Spiders were gross. Sam was  _ gross _ .

So why was she able to sit with the Washington's? Jason’s mom told him that their dad knew all kinds of celebrities which meant that so did Josh, Hannah, and Beth, so why would they even want to hang out with a weirdo like Sam? What had she done to impress them?

“Look, look! She’s grazing!” Steph pointed through the giggles and Jason swivelled on his chair to see Sam munching away at some celery sticks from a Tupperware box. He snorted.

Sam leaned her box towards Hannah who happily took one and started crunching away. Josh stuck his tongue out and fake gagged while Beth reached forward and snatched one out of the box too. Even from here, Jason could see Sam’s missing front tooth when she grinned. He’d been feeling his own front teeth start to wobble and subconsciously brought his hand up to wriggle the tooth around.

He wanted to try tying it to a handle and slamming a door, like he’d seen in a movie once.

Sam probably lost hers falling out of a tree or something.

Jason snorted again at the mental image.

He turned back to the table and started eating his own lunch again. Jason had spent lots of time agonising over why he hadn’t been able to become friends with Josh but he figured that it was only a matter of time. He didn’t much care for Hannah or Beth. They were  _ girls _ . And  _ babies _ . Beth had once come up to him during recess to ask if she could have the ball he was playing with after he was done and he’d rolled his eyes and said sure. Of course, he’d never intended on giving it to her. He’d saw it first, and his dad told him that girls were supposed to be playing with dolls and stuff anyway.

No, he didn’t care for the twins at all. Besides, Josh would probably get bored of his sisters soon enough.

Jason still couldn’t understand why anyone would want to spend so much time with their younger siblings, so it probably wouldn’t last long.

“Ooh, Jason, wanna share your Kit-Kat with me?” Luke asked, having clearly spotted the candy bar peaking out of Jason’s lunch bag. Jason scowled and shoved it back inside his bag.

“No way, idiot, it’s mine,” Jason sat up straighter.

After knowing him this long, Jason knew that Luke was still the thieving jerk he was back in kindergarten. He’d lent him a pencil once and never got it back.

When Josh came to his senses and realise how great of a friend Jason could be, he was gonna ditch Luke so dang fast.

* * *

A year passed with no change.

Not even the seating plan. Well, not the seating plan that mattered.

Jason had managed to snag the seat next to Josh yet again at the start of third grade. They were at the back so it gave Jason prime note-passing privileges. Josh still hadn’t given him the time of day, but that had stopped deterring Jason last year. He’d lean over and crack jokes about how their teachers voice sounded like a dying chicken, or if he knew the answer to number six because he just wasn’t getting it.

Alas, Jason’s idea that Josh would bore of his sisters and their weird, grass-eating friend had fell through and their bonds had remained strong through the year. Jason certainly hadn’t expected that weirdo Sam to become friends with Josh as well until he’d seen the two of them at recess, digging through the dirt at the back of the playground and creating a small pile of wriggling worms.

Jason had pulled a face but an idea had popped into his head. Aiming with the dodge-ball in his hands, Jason threw it roughly at the squirming mound between the two of them. It hit its target and Jason laughing when Sam squealed in shock and Josh snapped his head around to see who’d thrown the ball in the first place.

Jason grinned and waved, “What are you guys doing?”

Sam stared at him in open mouth horror and said nothing, suddenly scrambling to check on the gross pile of worms as if it mattered if any of them had gotten squished. Josh glared at him and said nothing either, turning away from Jason and helping Sam do whatever the heck it was she was doing.

Jason never got his ball back. And he never figured out what they were doing.

Jason impatiently tapped his pencil against his desk and kept his eyes glued on the clock. It was only 15 more minutes until lunchtime and he was about ready to fall asleep listening to Mrs. Archer drone on about math equations or whatever the heck she was ever talking about. He looked out on the classmates in front of him, presumably equally as bored, and his eyes landed on the girl in front of him.

Jeanie Simmonds.

Another idea popped into Jason’s head. Oh, this would be good. He knew Josh liked a good prank after it was discovered that he was the one who put a thumbtack on Mrs. Archer’s seat and got sent to the principle’s office.

“Pst! Josh, watch this,” He whisper-yelled, getting a bored look in return. Jason turned back towards Jeanie and reached forward quietly. Jeanie was wearing a spaghetti tank top that day and Jason could see the straps of that weird training bra thing she was wearing. He only knew about it because he’d overheard her talking to her friends about it.

Lightly at first, Jason grabbed the strap and pulled it back, letting it snap onto her back. She jolted and spun around to glare at him. Jason grinned and snorted at her face.

“Quit it, you idiot,” She whispered at him, venom seeping into her voice. She spun back around and Jason looked over at Josh, still laughing, only to find the other boy looking bewildered and slightly annoyed.

Dang it.

Not funny enough.

Gotta go big or go home.

Jason rubbed his hands together and reached forward again, this time pulling the strap back as far as it would go before releasing it with a loud, painful sounding smack. Jeanie screamed at that, suddenly shooting her arm in the air to get the teacher's attention, as if her squawking wasn’t enough. Jason cackled and looked at Josh again, expecting to see a toothy grin but only saw the side of his head. He wasn’t even watching.

“JASON!”

Feeling his blood run cold, Jason snapped his head towards the teacher, laughter suddenly caught in his throat. She was glaring at him and Jeanie had spun around in her chair with smug satisfaction painted across her face.

“Jason, get up and come to the front,” Mrs. Archer snapped at him, gesturing to the seat just in front of her where a tubby blonde kid with glasses was sat. Jason could see him sit up straighter just by being associated with this situation. Jason stood slowly and flinched when she added another order, “Get your things, you’re sitting here for the rest of the year so I can keep an eye on you.”

Jason groaned and started gathering his things from his desk.

“Christopher,” her tone was lighter when addressing the other boy who he assumed to be Christopher, “go sit at the back next to Josh. I can trust you to behave.” It was said as a statement, but Jason could hear the warning underneath it.

_ Christopher _ , Jason mocked in his head, adding a lisp and dopey accent to it.  _ Pansy name _ .

Jason glared at this  _ Christopher _ as he passed him and the blonde boy looked down, clutching his books and pencil case to his chest. Jason lightly shoulder barged him as he passed and angrily shoved his stuff into his new desk.

Ugh, the seat was still warm.

“Right, now, back to these equations…”

Jason immediately zoned out again as the teacher turned back towards the whiteboard and started writing down more numbers and symbols. He turned in his seat to see Steph and Luke trying not to laugh at him from their corner of the room.

“Jason! Face forward.”

Scowling, Jason did as he was told and reluctantly faced the front.

How was it not lunch yet?

* * *

He literally could not believe it.

It had been no less than two weeks and that blonde geek had already found a spot at the Washington lunch table.

Jason shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth and munched angrily. This was the most frustration and confusion his small third grader body had ever felt and he didn’t even know why it was so important to him to get a spot on that dang table.

He didn’t even  _ like _ them that much anymore.

His pride had already been wounded every time he was shot down by Josh, and now every addition that wasn’t him at that table felt like a personal attack. First his sisters, then the grass eater, and now  _ Christopher _ . Jason had chosen the seat that gave him a perfect look at their table today. All that he saw was Chris nervously pushing up his glasses as he looked to be explaining some device in his hand to an entranced looking Josh.

“Nerd alert,” Luke murmured under his breath and snorted.

“Who even is that? I’d never seen him in class before until… well…” Stephanie trailed off, taking a sip of her apple juice and giving Jason a look that finished her sentence for her.

“It’s  _ Christopher Hartley _ ,” Jason said it with the same lisp and dopey tone he’d done in his head the first time he heard the name, “I don’t know who he is. Some loser.”

“Yeah, he looks like a loser,” Luke added unhelpfully, “Should we break his glasses so he has to tape them together?”

Jason grinned despite his anger, “Yeah, and then we can break that dumb thing he’s holding.”

“It’s his Gameboy,” Stephanie said with an eyeroll, like it was obvious, “I heard that he talks to it because he has no other friends.”

“Well, he has friends  _ now _ .” Jason said, shoving another handful of chips in his mouth.

Over on the Washington table, Josh laughed at something Chris had said and Chris looked mighty pleased with himself. Beside them, the twins and Sam were sharing lunches again. Sam had  _ carrots _ today. Jason grimaced. Who the hell  _ enjoyed _ vegetables? Well, weirdos and freaks, obviously.

Jason took a swig of his Capri-Sun and felt a realisation wash over him.

Why had he ever been vying for Joshua’s attention when the other boy  _ clearly _ had bad taste in friends? It had been obvious from day one that Josh was a weirdo himself, but Jason had put it upon himself to look past that and try and befriend the guy anyway. He’d seen him for the cool, millionaire kid that he thought he was, not the creepy loner who spent too much time with his sisters that he really was.

Well, whatever.

He knew better now.

Jason slapped Luke’s hand away from his bag of chips and glared at him. Luke pulled his hand back and looked affronted.

“We’re supposed to share,” He snapped, rubbing his hand like it hurt.

Jason rolled his eyes and pulled the bag closer to himself.

“Whatever.”

He’d get over it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hoooooooly shit im so sorry this took so bloody long to do
> 
> i started it almost as soon as i finished the first chapter but ive been having such bad writers block these past few months D':
> 
> i really have to thank my great friend imdisappointingmyparents for helping me with this chapter so so much  
> so much in fact that ive added her as a cowriter because she pretty much is at this point

Stephanie remembers her first week of middle school as being one of the scariest of her life.

Moving from familiar surroundings to an entirely new building with entirely new teachers and entirely new classmates had made her feel like her heart was going to jackhammer out of her chest.

Of course, that was just the first week.

She’d gotten the hang of it soon enough and now, a few months on, she felt almost at home.

Both Luke and Jason had come to the same school as her and while she’d tried to move herself into different social circles it wasn’t nearly as easy as she thought it’d be. It turned out that most of the other kids had already known each other from grade school so accepting Steph into their fold was a long, boring process.

So she stuck with the two boys most of the time. It was easier.

That, and their shared hatred for one particular group was strong enough to reignite the fire of friendship after a whole summer of not seeing, talking, or even attempting to communicate with each other.

Best friends forever, right?

Aside from the harder classes and more homework, Steph thought middle school was going to be a breeze.

And she could swear now, so that was cool.

The whole of 6th grade went by like a breeze, the majority of it spent finessing her way into various friend groups to see which ones she liked and she ones she didn’t. Of course, she steered well away from the Washington’s, their clan of freaks, and anyone who associated with them.

Not that anyone did, so that was easy enough.

A few months into 7th grade and she was practically golden.

All she had to do was be patient enough to slide herself into one of these friend groups and she’d be golden. The one she was sitting with right now, for example.

There were five girls in total, Steph not included, and they’d all known each other from their previous school. Steph had been the odd one out during gym and had been put with them to play 3-a-side soccer and thus the seed of friendship was planted. Or, well, forcibly punched into the soil by Steph who had talked their ears off until they’d agreed to let her hang out with them at recess.

They were now sat in a circle on the small field in the playground, making daisy chains and ripping up grass in their laps. Steph wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation, too busy trying to remember their names before she totally botched this thing.

There was Caitlin, Rebecca, Sarah, Jessica, and… Emily? Something like that. Began with an ‘E’.

Emily was weird.

The four other girls were all bubbly and giggly and had those stupid butterfly clips in their hair, but Emily was nothing like that at all. She was short, fat, and always wore these weird black clothes with rips and netting on them.

Steph didn’t know why she was even there at all. Pity?

The only one in the group who even seemed to like Emily was Jessica.

Steph didn’t like Jessica either.

She talked too loud and laughed at her own jokes. Whenever Steph asked the girls a question Jess was always the first to answer with something dumb, always the first to try and include Emily in a conversation, always trying to show the weirdo how to make scooby bands because she never got the hang of it.

Emily was always so moody and Jess seemed to be the only one who could cheer her up and it was so fucking _annoying_.

Steph could be just as nice and perky as Jess but whenever she tried to talk to Emily she just got the cold shoulder and honestly, who the hell did she think she was?

A loser, that’s who she was. She’d fit in nicely with the Washington’s circle of weirdos. The thought made her stifle a giggle. Steph made a note to rant to the boys about these two.

Abruptly, Jess stood from their circle and brushed off her jeans before tapping Emily on the shoulder who was making a small mound of grass on her crossed legs.

“I’m going to the bathroom. Emily, come with me!” Jess grinned, revealing the small gap between her front teeth. Steph rolled her eyes and Emily stood up, quickly following her _best friend_ in the _whole wide world_.

Steph watched her lumber off and snickered at how comical the two of them looked walking side by side; Jess and her lanky but graceful limbs and Emily waddling beside her.

One of the other girls, Sarah or whatever, cocked her head at Steph and stopped fiddling with her daisies.

“What’s so funny?”

Steph said nothing and just gestured with her head to the two who had just left the group.

“Look at them. It’s like one of those nature documentaries except the cheetah is making friends with the hippo.”

The other three glanced up at the sight and started giggling among themselves, giving each other secretive glances.

“Oh, yeah,” Caitlin snickered, “Emily’s a weirdo. I don’t know why Jess makes us hang out with her.”

“Maybe Jess is like that weird vegan chick, Sam or whatever,” Rebecca chimed in. “She wants to save the whales.”

Everyone laughed at that one, even Sarah, who looked a little guilty but snickered anyway. Steph felt her heart race and grinned along with them. Ever since she was young, she’d always admired those girls she saw on TV shows, the ones with friends around every corner, always someone they could chat with and hang out. Her mother called her a social butterfly, even when she was a baby. Said she could talk anyone's ear off.

Steph grinned and tried to think of a way to keep the conversation rolling; nothing could form a friendship quicker than mutual target for their verbal barbs.

“I heard she eats fish guts for lunch,” Steph leant close and whispered-but-not-really-whispered, her voice holding the same certainty that she’d answer an easy question on a pop quiz, like she was stating a fact.

The sky is blue,grass is green, water is wet, and Emily eats fish guts.

Caitlin scrunched her nose at that and the other two “eeeeeew”’d in unison, giggling amongst each other. Steph was honestly surprised at how quickly they’d accepted that. Luke and Jason were a bit more skeptical whenever she started spouting off her stories which only made it more fun to convince them. It’s like these girls were _looking_ for reasons to dislike Emily. She could work with that.

“I heard that Asians eat raw fish for breakfast!” Caitlin added. “And seaweed too!”

“Ew, like that gross stuff at the beach?” Rebecca looked aghast, “That green stuff with all the lumps in it?”

“Raw fish too, I mean, gross,” Caitlin reiterated, her voice pitching up an octave on the last word.

“She really _is_ a whale,” Steph added with a nervous edge, but eager to join in nonetheless. Everyone laughed again. They threw their heads back and guffawed, daisy chains forgotten, until they heard the familiar sound of Jess’s high-pitched laughter coming their way. Immediately, the other girls shut up and stared at the ground, mouths twitching with the effort of trying not to laugh. Steph knew that they were firmly in her camp though, and couldn’t hide her smirk as Jess and Emily drew close. Emily glared at her.

“What?” she asked. Steph’s smirk grew.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Em. Can I call you Em?”

Emily’s face flushed. Everyone there knew that only Jess was allowed to call her that. It was like an unspoken rule. Emily had a lot of those.

“No?” Steph said. “What about Emmy, then?”

Steph could almost physically feel the other three girls trying not to laugh. Jess mostly looked confused, that same dumb grin on her face, eyebrows furrowed. Emily clenched her chubby little fists and Steph bit her lip.

“No.”

“Aw, that’s too bad, nevermind then,” Steph shrugged and went back to her flowers, practically bathing in the awkward atmosphere radiating in the air around her. There was a beat of silence and Emily thudded down next to her, shuffling closer to Jess in their little circle. Steph convulsed in a hidden laugh and looked up, pointing to a daisy just next to Emily’s leg.

“Hey, Emmy, can you pass me that daisy?”

Apparently that was the funniest thing these three girls had ever heard because Caitlin, Becca, and Sarah all burst out laughing, rolling on the grass. Emily’s face went a bright red and Steph couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.

“What is your _deal_?” Jess piped up, scowling and jabbing an accusing finger at Steph who tried to look affronted around her shit-eating grin.

“God, all I wanted was her to pass me a flower, jeez, what’s with the attack?”

“Yeah, god, learn to take a joke, you two,” Becca said, wiping away a small tear.

“Hey guys,” Steph said, determined to amp things up. “What’s your favorite animal? Mine’s the _manatee.”_

“Hehe, mine’s the seal,” Becca added. “They’re just so _chubby.”_

Emily flinched almost imperceptibly.

“What about pigs?” Caitlin chimed in. “The babies are cute, but they just get so gross and _fat_ when they’re older.”

“Yeah,” Sarah nodded, “more bacon though, right?”

Suddenly, Emily scrambled up and stormed off. Steph saw her wiping quickly at her face as she stalked towards the school building and rolled her eyes.

She would have kept rolling them if she didn’t get a sharp smack to the side of her face.

Steph squealed and recoiled, holding her cheek in her hand and glaring at Jess who was now stood over her, hand poised in a fist.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Jess snapped, looking like she was about to do more than just smack her. They glared at each other for a few more seconds before Jess began jogging after Emily, Steph glaring at her the whole way.

There was an awkward thickness in the air, the feeling of a joke gone too far.

Steph turned towards the other three girls who were now sheepishly looking away, “Is it red?”

“What?”

“My cheek. Is it red?”

“Uh,” Becca leaned forward and nodded, “Yeah, it’s pretty red.”

“Good.”

A few crocodile tears and one confession to a teacher later, and Stephanie had landed Jessica Riley in detention for hitting her unprovoked.

“All we were doing was talking about our favorite animals and she flipped out on me,” Steph had sniffed, rubbing her cheek, “I didn’t wanna be a snitch, but…”

The teacher had shushed her and told her it was okay, she was right to tell her what had happened and Steph had left the room with a watery smile that quickly turned into a wheezing laugh as she rounded the corner.

Man, middle school was fun.

* * *

There was an glaringly obvious lull in the conversation when Jessica walked over to their table at lunch the next day. She held her tray in a grip so tight it looked like it was about to snap and spill her mac ‘n’ cheese all over the cafeteria floor. Steph raised an eyebrow - as well as she _could_ raise her eyebrow since she was practising it to look cooler - and stuck her lip out. Jess arrived at the table side and took an audible breath through her nose, gently placing her tray on the table but not sitting down.

Steph says gently, but really it looked like it was taking every ounce of self control she had not to frisbee the thing at Stephanie’s head.

The other three girls said nothing, seemingly embarrassed by the mere presence of Jess, keeping their eyes welded to the table.

“So,” Jess started, her voice straining, “My dad's’ always tell me that I should be the bigger person with stuff like this.”

Another length of silence. Jess finally looked at Steph with a gleam in her eye, “So, I forgive you for being a fucking bitch for literally no apparent reason.”

Jess looked mighty satisfied with herself and grinned, picking up her tray again and moving to sit down next to Becca who, as well as Sarah and Caitlin, looked at a loss on what to do. Steph nodded slowly and made a quick scan of the cafeteria and noticed something was missing from this equation.

A very _big_ something.

“So, where’s your pig?” Steph asked casually and grinned when Jessica stiffened.

Apparently the other three girls, now feeling confident enough to get involved now that Steph had started the parade, snorted and giggled between themselves.

Jess scowled, “ _Emily_ is in the library, skipping lunch. Because you assholes made fun of her. Because you’re shitty people.”

Steph rolled her eyes, “Ugh, cry me a river, lardo could use the diet anyway.”

Jess slammed her tray down and, with a speed Steph hadn’t expected, stormed over to her. Stephanie stood and felt her resolve quiver. God, this girl was so sensitive, why did she even care about that weirdo anyway?

A few heads on the tables beside them turned to see the commotion but Steph was mostly keeping her attention on the fuming girl before her. She knew how quick Jess was to anger and didn’t really feel like getting smacked in the face a second time in one week.

Jess loomed over her, the few inches of height she held over Steph making all the difference. It wasn’t like she was this hulking figure, but those lanky limbs gave her the advantage she needed.

Jess shoved her hard with one hand and Steph tried not to look as scared as she felt. She swallowed hard and thudded against the table; one hand bracing against it, the other instinctively twitching up like a shield.

Like, okay, sure, she was making fun of Emily or whatever but she didn’t expect Jess to be so quick to attack her again after already getting detention yesterday. God, she really _was_ a moron.

By this point almost everyone in the cafeteria was staring, most of whom were whooping and chanting “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT”. Steph was sure that if she had the time or patience to search for them, Luke and Jason would be chanting it right along with the rest of the crowd.

Assholes.

“Okay, fucker,” Jess shoved her again and Steph could here the three girls still sitting at the table squeal and jump away from it, “what the hell is wrong with you? You’re just an ass for no reason! She’s not done anything to you! Why are you such a fucking bitch!?”

Okay, Steph was excited to swear now too, but this just seemed excessive. That being said, Steph wasn’t... _not_ intimidated by how freely the curses fell out of Jessica’s mouth. Where the hell were the teachers when you needed them?

As if answering a prayer, a booming voice rose above the chanting of prepubescent teenagers that simply said, “JESSICA RILEY!”

The chants almost immediately stopped and a wave of “ooh”’s replaced it. Jess, as well as everyone else, spun their heads towards the voice and collectively cringed at the sight of the vice principal crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. Steph took the distraction and used it to side step out of Jessica’s shadow, a brief rush of relief washing over her.

“Both of you. In my office. Right now.”

Well, until that.

Steph made a whimpered “wha- wha-” noise, glancing between Jess and the fit-to-burst woman looming in the doorway. Her fear alone stopped her voicing any complaints about the unfairness of this entire ordeal and trailed after Jessica, trying to well up enough tears in her eyes to make it seem convincing.

It wasn’t a long walk to the office but it felt like an age had passed before Jess and Steph were seated in uncomfortable plastic chairs across from the vice principal.

Steph felt like her stomach had dropped out somewhere in the cafeteria and was still laying on the gross, food smeared floor cause it certainly wasn’t in her body still. She didn’t even know why she was so scared, she hadn’t even _done_ anything. All of this was Jessica’s fault. If she’d kept a better control of her emotions then this wouldn’t have happened.

“What I just saw was _disgusting_ behaviour,” the vice spat. She was an older woman, lips drawn in a stiff dot of annoyance. Under better circumstances Steph might have laughed that it looked like a butthole. There was enough shit coming out of it.

_Nice one, Steph._

The plaque on the desk read Mrs. Andrews and despite her stern demeanor, one side of her desk was completely devoted to dog bobble heads. It certainly made her less threatening in Steph’s eyes.

Mrs Andrews looked between the two girls like she was expecting them to say something back but neither did which only seemed to piss her off more.

“I don’t know what’s going on with either of you, but I won’t allow that kind of behaviour in this school. Jessica,” beside Steph, Jess flinched at the curt tone, “I’ll be contacting your parents. This is the second time in two days you’ve had an outburst. And _you_ , Stephanie, your parents, too.”

Steph almost sighed in relief. That wasn’t too bad. At least she didn’t have detention. All probably would have been swell if Jess hadn’t scoffed and carried on talking.

“I didn’t even do anything, this is so unfair!” She slid down in her chair and whined. Steph pressed her lips together and held her tongue. She knew better than to mouth off in front of the vice principal. Speaking of, Mrs Andrews didn’t look too pleased at Jessica questioning her judgement.

“Excuse me, young lady, but it looked to me like you were the one who started that fight. And you were the one to hit Miss Cohen yesterday, might I add,” Mrs Andrews sat straighter in her desk chair and Steph tried to look anywhere but her reddening face. God knows she would have burst out laughing otherwise.

“Yeah, because she was being a bitch and bullyin-”

“Jessica! I will not have that language in my office. There’s no need for it.”

“But she was bullying Emily!” Jessica was practically yelling now and Steph felt like she should bust out some popcorn. She’d never seen someone dig their own grave so quickly. Wobbling her lip and pricking her eyes with tears, Steph finally looked up.

“No I wasn’t! She’s just making it up!” She didn’t mean for her voice to crack, but it certainly did help.

“Oh, shut you, you fu-”

Steph didn’t have to look over to see how pissed off Jessica was getting. She could practically feel the heat of her anger blistering onto her skin. It took all her effort not to burst out laughing.

“That’s quite enough! I’m disappointed in you, Jessica. This is _not_ the kind of attitude I was expecting from a girl like you,” Mrs Andrews shook her head, “You’ll spend the rest of the week in detention after school.”

“ _What!?_ ”

Mrs Andrews’ nostrils flared and she gave Jess a look that could curdle milk.

“That’s _final_. Now, both of you can go. I don’t want to see behaviour like that again.”

Steph had never left a room so quick in her life. She didn’t give Jessica a chance to catch up with her and practically skipped down the corridor back to the cafeteria. She was sure Jason and Luke would have so many questions for her about what went down and she needed to get her story straight. A few flourishes here and there would certainly do wonders.

* * *

Steph made three new friends in the next week. Two boys and a girl, all of whom had a wonderful penchant for talking shit. While Jess and Emily were hardly their only targets, they were certainly their favourites. It was pretty hilarious watching the two of them eat lunch together, alone, Jess being all dainty and her pig best friend eating up everything like she thought it would disappear. At one point, Emily overheard them laughing at her while she ate, and after that, she stopped bringing in a lunch at all.

Well, whatever. She could stand to lose a few pounds, anyway.

Things were going perfectly for the first few days, Stephanie with her new gaggle of friends, all pointing and laughing at the girl who had once been surrounded by friends and admirers, now all alone except for her pet whale.

But then, on Thursday, Jess and Emily came into lunch and sat with a new table.

Josh Washington’s table.

At the sight Steph felt herself scoff with something akin to annoyance. She should have seen it coming a mile away honestly. Of course those two would be so readily accepted into the gang of weirdos and freaks that seemed to double in size every year.

“Can you even believe that shit?” Steph fumed, shoving herself down onto a chair across from Jason and Luke while keeping her eyes firmly planted on the Washington table.

“I can, actually.” Luke grinned, stirring the slop on his plate around with a fork that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while, “They’re all weirdos, right? I mean, you were ripping Jess a new one last week and Emily follows her like a parade float.”

According to Jason, Josh and Jess got into detention at the same time, Jess for making an ass of herself in front of the vice principal and Josh for drawing dicks on the music room walls. Massive drawings, too, practically taking up the whole length and width of the wall. No one was even sure how he did it.

That was Josh Washington in a nutshell. Whatever stupid shit other people were doing for fun, Josh magnified by one hundred just because he could.

Jason leaned closer and she and Luke instinctively followed suit, like he was disclosing government secrets. He’d started growing his hair out for some reason and the greasy curtain of chin-length locks fell around his face like a partition, “They just started passing notes. It was so weird. I didn’t know what any of them said ‘cause I was at the back of the room but, like…”

“Like… love notes?” Steph supplied, genuinely unsure.

Luke leaned back and scoffed, “As if. Josh is as straight as a bendy ruler.”

Steph snorted and Jason stuck his tongue out, a visible shudder running through him, “Ugh, yeah. I’ve totally seen him staring at guys in gym. Fuckin’ gross.”

“When was the last time you went to gym, Jason,” Luke laughed, “Weren’t you in detention because you skipped gym to smoke?”

“Yeah, but like… you know he does it too!”

“Can’t you tell a teacher or something? That’s gotta be against the rules or whatever,” Steph leaned back in her chair and shrugged.

“Maybe, but his dad would probably bail him out. He’s still rich,” Luke said, now shoving his tray away from him, deciding that he wasn’t going to risk food poisoning today.

“I watched one of his movies. They’re not even that scary,” Jason muttered, sliding down in his seat and crossing his arms.

Steph glanced back over at the Washington’s table where Sam was now offering Emily one of her carrot sticks. Emily tentatively took one and began nibbling on it. What a sorry sight, honestly. Jess and Josh were laughing together, seemingly ribbing Chris for neglecting his food and playing on his GameBoy. Josh’s baby sisters sat together, Hannah doodling something stupid in her notebook and Beth stirring her yogurt and sneaking glances at Sam like some kind of lesbian. Gross. Maybe being perverted ran in the Washington family.

A thought crossed Steph’s mind and she smothered a laugh.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” She called absently over her shoulder as she got up to leave. She got disinterested responses and quickly made her way back to the table where her group was sitting. She plastered a look of scandal across her face and plonked herself down between Caitlin and Becca, immediately drawing the attention of everyone else at the table.

“Oh. My. _God_.” She stage whispered, which only entranced everyone more.

“What? What’s happening?” Sarah asked, leaning forward.

“You will not _believe_ what Jason just told me,” Steph grinned. Her audience got more excited.

“So, like, he was in detention with Jess and Josh, right? He sat at the back but he said he saw them passing notes and they were _love notes_ ,” Steph said and there was a clear disappointment around the table. They’d clearly expected more of her from such a dramatic entrance which only spurred her on more.

She had to make this good.

“But _then_ ,” she continued, “he said the teacher left to take a call or whatever and they both like, went outside the classroom together? And when Jason went over to see what they were doing Josh was _fingering_ her!”

Almost immediately there was a cacophony of responses, most of them ones of disgust.

“No way!”

“Oh my god, that’s so gross!”

“In the hallway? God, that’s so disgusting!”

Steph beamed and nodded, quickly pointing over to the Washington table where Jess and Josh were still talking and laughing, “Yeah, Jason said he was mentally scarred for life.”

Everyone looked over at the table and started whispering amongst themselves, laughing with disbelief, some leaning over to people sitting near them and whispering the damning phrase “Jessica Riley got fingered by Josh Washington” until Steph was satisfied with her work and sat down, resuming her lunch.

By the end of the day, the rumor had already mutated. Now Jess had been fingered by three different guys since the start of middle school, and had sucked Barry Carson’s dick behind the bleachers. Of course, Steph had no doubt that Barry Carson had added that tidbit himself, but nonetheless it made it a better story.

The best part was, no one would be able to trace it back to her. The whole thing was a case of “well he told her who told her who told them who told him who told me”. The perfect crime.

The next morning, someone had written SLUT on Jess’s locker in black sharpie. Jess ignored the writing and threw her locker door open, her lips in a thin white line. She spent the whole day, and the next, quietly fuming while her fellow freaks comforted her at lunch. It was like watching stink bugs holding a funeral. Gross and hilarious but kind of sad too.

For the rest of the school year, Jessica’s locker was graffitied a total of 23 times.

It really was Stephanie’s finest work yet.

* * *

8th grade started without much fanfare.

Over the summer Steph had spent many hours maintaining and expanding her social circle on Facebook, checking in with Luke and Jason occasionally, and just all around enjoying herself.

As the year started it became apparent that the Washington’s and their friends had grown even closer. It was almost gross how much time they spent together.

Not that they had anyone else to hang out with.

It also became apparent that Steph’s brilliantly crafted Jessica “The Slut” Riley rumour had stayed just as strong, if not stronger, over the summer. It had morphed and mutated beyond the simple story she had started it with but who was Steph to put a stop to the creative flare?

That being said, Jess didn’t seem nearly as upset by it this year. Which was annoying.

Steph was in American history, listening as Mr. Ansari assigned a partner project about key figures in the American Revolution. Captain America himself, Michael Munroe, was sitting right next to Stephanie, smiling that beautiful smile of his with undisguised interest. Apparently the guy, in addition to being a total hunk and a smooth talker, was a history buff. If Steph could get with him in this project, it could lead to all kinds of things, most importantly a much needed status boost for her.

Mr. Ansari had everyone write down their names on scraps of paper and throw them in a hat. Stephanie waited with bated breath as Mike drew a name from the hat beside her.

“Emily Davis,” he read aloud.

If it was possible for her ears to do a double take, they would have.

He moved over to where Emily was sitting while Stephanie watched, fuming. Emily’s chubby face lit up as he introduced himself to her.

Stephanie muttered curses under her breath as she drew her partner’s name from the hat. When she saw who it was, she nearly swore again. The universe must have really hated her today.

“Sam Giddings,” she said through gritted teeth.

Sam traipsed over to her desk, not a care in the world, and stuck out her hand, which looked calloused and bony.

“Howdy, partner!” Sam said with a big, brace-faced smile. Steph repressed the urge to bite her hand off. She gave her a clearly pained smile but ignored the hand being offered to her.

“Charmed.”

Sam raised her eyebrows in a “okay geez” gesture and plonked her chair down next to Steph’s desk. The teams were supposed to go up to the front of the class and decide which person they were going to do their presentation on. Steph waited, resting her head on her hand while Sam smacked out a beat on her desk which was really starting to annoy the fuck out of her.

“Could you… stop that,” Steph snapped, glaring at Sam who raised her hands in surrender and laying them as gently as she could on the wooden desk.

“Sorry, I guess.”

Another team went up to pick their project. Another beat of silence.

“Uh,” Sam started, sounding awkward, “What… what was your name again? I’m a little bad with names, hah.”

Steph felt a rush of annoyance course through her. This freak of nature honestly had no idea who she was? She’d known her throughout all of grade school and she didn’t know who the fuck she was?

“I’m _Stephanie_.”

Sam furrowed her eyebrows as some sort of recognition dawned on her face, “Oh… Steph.”

“What the hell is that face supposed to mean?”

“You were friends with Jess, right?”

Steph scoffed and looked around the room, “I was never friends with that _slut_ , thank you very much. And we were at the same grade school, you idiot.”

Sam’s once airy and welcoming nature dried up in about 0.1 seconds and a aura of stern annoyance replaced it.

“Wow, Jess was right, you really are a bitch.”

Steph opened her mouth and a squeak of disbelief fell out of it.

From the back of the class, she heard a short, shy giggle. Out of the corner of her eye Steph could see Mike smirking as he whispered another joke in Emily’s ear. Emily laughed again, something Steph didn’t think that big fat sourpuss was even capable of doing once, let alone twice. Who the hell were they gossipping about? And why was Mike wasting his time telling jokes to that worthless freak?

Something in the universe must have been broken that day, Steph decided, as she and Sam picked the last remaining topic, Marquis de Lafayette, in stony silence.

Not only was she paired with the grass eater, she now had to watch Mike spend his sweet time with the lard ball that was Emily Davis.

At lunch that day, Mike sat with Josh Washington’s pack of freaks. Emily kept smiling over at him, so utterly and obviously in love with him that Steph nearly blew chunks. Emily must have been a lot stupider than her grades would suggest if she actually thought she had a chance with Mike Munroe, king of the school and the apple of every girl’s eye.

Steph elbowed Caitlin in the shoulder.

“Look at Emily. She’s so head over heels for Mike, it’s pathetic.”

Caitlin followed her gaze and snorted.

“Pfft, yeah, wow. Talk about obvious.”

“It’s so nice of Mike to put up with her like that,” Steph replied. “Even though we all know he just feels sorry for her.”

“I heard Emily’s rich,” Becca chimed in. “Her house is the only thing bigger than she is.”

“Maybe he just wants to get some of her money,” Sarah added. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

There was a collective hum of approval around the table and Steph jutted out her bottom lip.

“It’s too bad Mike feels obligated to put up with her,” Steph mused. “He deserves better.”

“Totally,” Caitlin said, pulling out her candy-colored phone. “Hang on, I’m gonna text Aubree about this. She’s gonna eat this up.”

Steph smirked, taking out her own phone and picking almost everyone in her contact list. It’s one thing when the rumor wasn’t true, but this one definitely was. No one could fault her for speaking the truth. Emily was clearly in love with Mike, which was really just objectively funny. Who could fault any of them, really, for laughing?

Across the cafeteria, Steph could hear a few phones going off after she’d hit send, followed by laughter and covered her grin with her phone. Oh, this was going to be too good. Let’s see Mike be so buddy-buddy with Emily when he finds out she’s got a major crush on him.

However, over the next few weeks, every time someone asked Mike about it he would just laugh it off and say that he and “Em” were just friends. Which meant she let him call her Em.

Either Mike and his big beautiful head were empty, or he was just trying to save her from the embarrassment of having her feelings for him exposed. Either way, it didn’t do anything to stop the rumors. Practically everyone in school was looking at Emily these days with a mix of pity and disgust. Emily really needed a wake up call; Mike was out of her league and always would be.

Stephanie watched Mike’s pen move as he scratched out his notes during class. It couldn’t be that hard to mimic his writing. Giving Emily a fake love note and watching the fireworks would be the cherry on top of this delicious sundae. The next period for her was study hall, and she spent the whole hour meticulously crafting a perfect (well, close enough) replica of Mike’s penmanship as she wrote her note. Calling Emily gorgeous. Asking her to the upcoming dance. Steph was so caught up in her own joke that she didn’t notice people staring at her. It was only when she got to lunch, her fake note hidden in her bag, that she noticed her group of friends was quieter than usual. Much quieter.

“What’s with you guys?” Steph asked Becca. “Did someone die?”

“No, it’s...it’s nothing,” Becca said, looking nervous. “Uh, how are you?”

Steph shrugged. She had a bit of a cold, that was all. Why did they care?

“Fine. A little under the weather. Why?”

The girls around her widened their eyes.

“Nothing, nothing. Just...wondering.”

Steph scowled and darted her eyes across each face before her, all of them avoiding eye contact with her.

“Okay, what the hell, just spit it out.”

Becca and Sarah exchanged a look and made a quick gesture, motioning Steph to lean down. She rolled her eyes but sat down next to them nonetheless.

“Steph, are you...you know…”

“What? Am I what? Spit it out!”

“Pregnant,” Sarah blurted out, louder than she probably intended, since a group of boys sitting at the table behind theirs laughed out loud.

 _“What?”_ Steph snapped. “Why the _hell_ would I be pregnant? Who told you I was?!”

“Everyone’s been saying it!” Sarah squeaked, “They- They’ve been saying that… well…”

“Everyone’s saying that Jason Green got you pregnant,” Caitlin said, seemingly eager just to get the words out there so everyone could stop pussyfooting around it. Steph blinked vacantly before feeling a rage so potent it almost burned a hole through her guts.

“ _What!?_ ”

Everyone recoiled and Steph quickly stood, her chair scraping on the linoleum behind her.

“I’m not pregnant! Why would any of you even believe that!?”

A cascade of excuses and apologies were thrown at her, all of which fell on deaf ears as Steph had already spun on her heel and was making a beeline towards one table in particular.

Already she could see Jason with his hood firmly over his head, the cords pulled so tight that only his nose and a strand of hair were sticking out. Beside him was a loudly guffawing Luke who only seemed to laugh more when he made eye contact with Steph as she approached them.

It probably didn’t look good that she was talking to either of them right now, but she needed to know which _dipshit_ started this.

“Ah, the lovebirds reunite!” Luke announced, deteriorating into squeals of laughter.

“Shut up!” Steph snapped, yanking Jason’s hood down with a violent tug. He screeched as his head was pulled back and a good handful of hair got yanked out with it but Steph was too pissed to care.

“Did you start this- this- this _bullshit_?” Steph spat, making a vague gesture around herself as if to indicate where exactly the bullshit was located.

Jason scowled and pulled his hood back up, “Of course I fucking didn’t, are you schizo?”

“Are _you_?”

Steph placed her hands on her hips and tried to ignore the burning sensation of embarrassment that radiated through her. She could feel every pair of eyes on her back and felt the urge to turn around and tell them exactly where to shove their rumours.

A couple people’s phones beeped in the cafeteria, and Steph turned to see more than a few kids had filmed the little spat, undisguised shit-eating grins on their faces. And the one with the biggest, smuggest grin of all was Jessica Fucking Riley, sitting pretty at the freaks’ table, looking right at Steph. Her whole table was eating this up, with only Sam and Hannah looking slightly ashamed. Even Emily was watching, and the cold, satisfied look in her eyes made Stephanie feel the tiniest twinge of fear.

Maybe middle school wasn’t that great after all.

* * *

After a day of avoiding as many people as humanly possible and having to tell many more that no, she wasn’t in fact pregnant and whoever started the rumour was an attention seeking whore, Steph was about ready to burn the whole school down with everyone inside.

By the time the final bell rang to signify the end of the day, Steph had managed to direct enough of her anger at one group in particular that she could probably power a small city with the amount of proverbial steam billowing out of her ears.

She snatched her bag from under her desk and bolted to her locker, having already told Jason and Luke at lunch to meet her outside the school gates to, as she had said, “sort this mess out”.

By the time they walked up to her, all slow and unconcerned for her reputation, she had already checked her phone for the time about a bazillion times and was tapping her foot so much she might have worn a hole in the ground. They’d waited behind her, making small talk, while Steph kept her eyes glued firmly to the school doors as student after student exited the building.

There was no doubt that they would all leave together.

Steph’s heart lurched in her chest when she saw that dirty blonde hair bob out the door.

She leaned back and elbowed one of the guys in the side, motioning with her head to the door as an instruction to get ready.

Steph didn’t really have a plan beyond this point but she figured (she hoped) that instinct would kick in any second now and she’d be able to karate chop every single one of them in the throat.

Jess saw her first, making eye contact mid-laugh, the lack of alarm or fear on her face only stoking the flames of Stephanie’s anger more. Jess made a motion with her head towards Steph.

“Uh oh, guys, looks like somebody’s a lil’ pissed,” Jess mocked, her voice taking on a childish tone at the end of the sentence.

Steph scowled and marched over, shoving Jessica hard in the chest. It would have been a solid move had Beth not been stood behind her and caught her instantly. At least Jess had the decency to look shocked.

“Look, bitch, I don’t know what your deal is, but don’t chat shit about me behind my back,” Steph snapped, taking a step forward and hoping to god Jason and Luke were somewhere behind her so she had at least some kind of backup.

Jess snorted, “Are you serious? Like, are you serious. You do nothing _but_ chat shit behind people’s backs.”

Steph’d nostrils flared and she took yet another step forward before feeling a clammy hand grab her arm and yank her back. Josh Washington himself glared at her and shoved her back towards Jason and Luke who had not, in fact, followed her. Apparently though, Josh getting involved was enough to spur Jason into action, his long standing, one sided rivalry with the Washington son egging him on.

“Hey! Don’t fucking touch her like that, fag!”

“Oh, shut _up_ , you shiteater,” was Josh’s almost disinterested response. Beth poised herself in front of her brother and snarled at Jason.

“What the fuck did you just call my brother, fuckface?”

Chris stormed his way next to her and tried to look as intimidating as a chubby blond kid in glasses could, determined to defend his best friend’s honour or whatever. Steph’s eyes remained on Jess despite the commotion beside her and would have kept them there had she not suddenly had her vision filled with Emily’s face. The significantly shorter girl shoved her, hard. Hard enough for Stephanie to land on the ground with a grunt of pain.

Steph heard Jessica’s shrill laugh fill her head and was determined to get right back up and start throwing some fists about until she heard Saint Sam start to speak.

“Okay, guys, just leave them, they’re not worth it!”

Steph looked up to see Hannah literally dragging a fuming Beth away from a cursing Jason and Sam firmly pulling Emily towards the gates. Just by looking into Emily’s eyes and seeing the fury there Stephanie knows that the timid girl she met at the start of middle school was gone, replaced by someone much more resentful and angry and willing to pick a fight. The freaks turned their backs and walked away, back towards the school gates.

“Yeah! Walk away! Pussies!” Luke called after them, despite not being involved in anything beyond just standing there.

None of them even looked back.

Steph blew a strand of hair out of her face and stood up, slapping Jason’s hand away as he tried to help her.

“Fucking assholes,” Stephanie grumbled. “Worthless, every last fucking one of them.”

“Yeah,” Jason said, spitting onto the asphalt. “I hope they all die.”

Luke laughed, “We should be so lucky, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> ngl im excited to write this
> 
> its gonna switch pov's and time frames next chapter to be aware of that
> 
> please please leave a comment if you liked it yo, i love comments
> 
> but thanks for reading yo!!


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